Buck defeats Norton in nailbiter GOP primary

LOVELAND– Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck defeated former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton in a neck-and-neck race that saw the candidates separated only by a few percentage points most of the night. AP is reporting only a 3 percentage point difference in their totals with 75 percent of the vote tallied.

The crowd here at the victory party has erupted but Buck hasn’t come out to speak. Norton, however, reportedly just called the Buck campaign to concede and he is due to address the crowd any minute.

“Go Ken go!” the crowd is chanting.

Senator Shawn Mitchell (R-Broomfield) said that primaries are “strange things,” like “family fights. It’s uncomfortable. Feelings get aroused.” But he said it was a good day for Ken Buck and for Colorado and for the country.

“Our futures and our freedoms are in the balance,” he said. “It’s easy to say the right things, to say you’re for limited government and low taxes but I’ve been Ken’s friend for a long time and I’ve watched him build a family and work for the community.He does the right thing and good things come.”

Former Fourth District Congressional tea party candidate Dean Madere told the Colorado Independent that he has always strongly backed Buck in the Senate race.

“Ken comes from the people. He talks plain and tells it like it is and I think that’s what people want this year. Norton doesn’t have that– that broad appeal from the grasssroots. Ken is the people’s candidate and it’s not just a tea party thing. The grassroots will be strong come November in a general election too. That’s what we all want.”